LOS ANGELES, July 6 (UPI) -- Leslie Van Houten, convicted almost 40 year ago of participating in the Manson Family killings in Los Angeles, lost another bid for parole Tuesday.
Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Parole Board, said its members decided Van Houten "still poses a risk to society," CNN reported. Patino said Van Houten, 60, who has now been turned down for release 19 times, cannot apply again until 2013.
Van Houten did not participate in the most notorious crimes committed by the followers of Charles Manson, the murder of Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of Polish director Roman Polanski, and four other people at her home in Benedict Canyon. She was convicted and sentenced to death for her part in the killing of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
All the death sentences were eventually reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating existing capital punishment laws.
Brandie Devall, who currently represents Van Houten, told CNN before the hearing she hoped her client's long record of good behavior in prison and recent California court rulings, would win her freedom.
